Leaving Tonight
by poynter94
Summary: Tom Hiddleston/OC Tom spots a woman sitting in a train with her children. He doesn't know it, but she has just escaped an abusive husband and is now on the run. He helps her out as he realizes she's running low on money.
1. Chapter 1

_All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way._ Sitting by the window, Tom read the book attentively while sipping on a cup of coffee. The sky was starting to brighten up as the train made it's way to the English capital. He had been on a trip to York visiting an old high school friend. The week had flown by quickly and soon came Monday which meant he had to return to his normal life. He had to audition for a movie role on the following Thursday and didn't want to be hungover or over exhausted on said date. A woman and her two children in front of him caught his attention. From where he was seated, he faced the mother who wore sunglasses that were most certainly not appropriate inside a train and spoke in a low but audible tone to the two boys in front of her.  
"Mommy, can we have some french fries?" said the one who appeared to be the eldest  
"I'm sorry baby, eat your grilled cheese, will you? As soon as we get to aunt Grace's house I promise you can have as many fries as you want." she smiled at him and Tom heard the boy sigh in annoyance  
"But why does Harry get to have half of **my** sandwich? And why aren't you eating anything?"  
"You know you wouldn't eat the whole thing, Randy. Mommy is not hungry. Are you sleepy, baby?" she caressed the other boy's hair and he mumbled something in response "Why don't you two finish your food and nap a little bit? I promise to wake you up as soon as we get to London."  
"Will daddy be there?" the boy inquired  
"Not yet. But I'm sure he will meet us later." she smiled again  
Tom took in her features, she appeared to be young, her long brown hair draped on her shoulders and her clothes as well as the boys' were very fine. They were dressed elegantly and were not for the sunglasses covering her face, he would have said she was really pretty. There was something off about her, he thought to himself looking away as to not pry. His stomach growled so he decided to go to the train's restaurant. As he walked past the woman and her children, he noticed that she was counting out the money she had in her wallet and sighed a little after finishing the task. At the restaurant, he ordered some muffins, another cup of coffee and decided to do something completely unusual after eyeing an item on the menu.  
Brenda looked at her children huddled on the train seat and sighed. She had left in such a hurry that the money she had taken was barely enough to get them to London without starving to death on the way. The right side of her face hurt a little, especially when she blinked for too long and the memories brought back by the pain made tears swell up in her eyes. Before she knew what she was doing, she sobbed as quietly as humanly possible, shaking her shoulders while doing so and covering her lips with one of her hands. How did she let things get that far? How could she have been so blind for so long? The questions popped up on her mind as she tried her best to wipe away the tears that were quickly followed up by others. 'It is all over' she said to herself knowing that wasn't true. It was all only just begining and the nightmare would not be over anytime soon. A shadow stood over by her side and she nearly screamed, looking upwards she realized that the shadow didn't belong to the person responsible for all of her nightmares. A man, appearing to be around her age if not a couple of years older, looked at her with uncertanty. His bright blue eyes were one of the prettiest things she had ever seen thus far, his hair was a mess of gold curls and he was at least six inches taller than her.  
"Excuse me," his voice was friendly and soothing "I don't mean to intrude. I was just down by the restaurant eating and ended up not finishing my french fries. I heard one of your boys speaking of those so I figured I would give them to you instead of just throwing them away." he smiled lightly and it took her a few minutes to truly understand the words that came out of his mouth  
"Oh, you didn't have to." her voice was slightly hoarse from the crying  
"It's no problem. My mother always told me I shouldn't get something if I weren't a hundred percent sure I would eat everything, I guess I never learn." they laughed a little and he put the french fries on the table "My name is Tom. Tom Hiddleston." he stretched out one of his hands  
"Brenda McIntyre. Would you like to sit?" she offered a polite smile  
"I don't want to disturb you."  
"You wouldn't be, trust me. If I wanted you away you would be out of this train by now." at that he laughed out loud and one of the boys, the blonde haired one, moved a little  
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake him up."  
"Oh he moves a lot in his sleep, but sleeps like a rock."  
"Well then, if that's the case I will have a seat." she moved to the side so he could sit beside her "Are you English? Your accent sounds a little different from what I am used to hearing."  
"No, I grew up in the States."  
"Oh! So you're American."  
"Pretty much."  
"What brings you to London?" at that she stiffened a little  
"I'm moving in with a childhood friend."  
"That's wonderful. Your sons will love the city, there's plenty of things for young boys to do out there."  
"I am sure there are."  
"Where did you live before? York?"  
"Oh no, even farther, we lived in Newcastle."  
"Haven't been there yet. How did you like it?"  
"It was okay, nothing too impressive."  
"Would you mind if I asked the reason for the move?"  
"I am getting divorced. So I thought it would be good to start out new in a different place."  
"You're right. And bringing your children with you was a wise decision. Children are the ones who suffer the most in these situations." his eyes emitted a certain sadness which she noticed  
"You speak from personal experience?"  
"Yes, my parents divorced when I was growing into teenagehood so they decided to send me to a boarding school. It was really distressing and confusing."  
"I'm sorry to hear that." as she said that her sunglasses moved downwards and, before she could quickly pull them up again, Tom had a glimpse of her brown eyes and the yellowing bruise around one of them. At that he felt his breath being taken away as if someone had just punched him in the stomach, his reaction must have been visible to the woman because she turned slightly away from him instantly. Her expression of embarassment hurt him to the core.  
"I'm sorry." he mumbled and went back to his seat  
The rest of the trip went by rather quietly. Mondays were not a typical day for traveling so the train was nearly empty. Tom went back to reading his book, he thought he heard Brenda sniffle every now and then, but did not dare look up. He wanted to ask what had happened to her, how he could be of any help and offer assistance to her family but decided that there was no way he could do that without sounding too intruding. The boys woke up a couple of hours after that and he could hear the happiness on their laughter as they ate the french fries he had left on the table. That warmed him on the inside. Every now and then he felt as he was being watched, but whenever he looked towards the three people in the booth in front of his own, his eyes never met anyone else's. Once again, he got up and headed towards the restaurant. As he walked by the booth, he saw its three occupants curled up in one of the seats. The woman no longer wore the sunglasses, and the late afternoon light showed him that the damage was far worse than he had initially thought. Not only she had a black eye, but the right side of her face seemed to be swollen and if he looked closely he could see a small cut on the corner of her lips. He felt a weird pain inside his own chest that was followed by an unknown rage. How could someone have done that to her?  
King's Cross station had not changed much since she had last been here over two years ago. Though it wasn't as busy as it usually would be, it was slightly crowded so she held the boys close to her as she made her way to a phonebooth.  
"Hold on to your brother's hand and hold the strap of my bag with the other one. Don't move okay? If someone approaches you, call me." the grey eyed boy agreed as she turned towards the payphone and dialed the number she knew all too well  
"Hello?" the voice on the other side appeared exasperated  
"Grace, it's me. We just arrived at King's Cross. Give me your address so I can take a cab over there."  
"Brenda, are you sure you don't want me to pick you up?"  
"No, I want to be out of here as soon as possible. I would have had you pick me up, but I had no cell so I couldn't call you on the train."  
"Alright, write it down." she wrote down the address and turned towards the boys, grabbing the bag on the bench and securing the straps of their little backpacks on their bodies  
"How much is a ride to this address?" she asked the cab driver  
"About seventy pounds, miss." the old man responded and she shook her head turning to the boys who waited behind her. She only had forty pounds on her, how the hell was she supposed to come up with another thirty pounds? The longer they stood at the station the worse it would be, they could be found out at any minute and taken away.  
"Want to share a cab ride?" that soothing voice from earlier startled her  
"Are you going near Camberwell?"  
"Yes! My mother lives right around that area. Shall we go?" he opened the door to them and after hesitating for a few seconds she decided to get into the car  
"Thank you." she said after they were all sitting  
"Don't mention it. What's your name?" he asked the boy sitting on her right. He looked a lot like his mother, though his eyes were grey and his hair a lighter shade of brown. He must have been around five or six years old.  
"Randall Lee McIntyre, but if you're nice to me you can call me Randy."  
"Well, I think I'm pretty nice."  
"Then you can call me Randy. What's your name?"  
"Thomas William Hiddleston. But I like to be called Tom." they smiled at each other "And you, what is your name?" the other boy was smaller, maybe two years old. He had big blue eyes and hair as blonde as Tom's used to be when he was around that age. The man assumed he looked like his father as he couldn't see much of Brenda on the boy.  
"Harry!" he responded sleepy  
"Well, now that we're all acquainted, who wants some candy?" he smiled mischieviously showing off the candy on one of his hands  
"Can we, mommy?" Randy questioned  
"Sure." they reached out and grabbed some of it with their tiny little fingers "What do you say when people give you something?"  
"Thank you!"  
"You're welcome."  
The cab ride to Grace's house was quite extensive, so Brenda and Tom chatted and got to know a little more about each other on the way. He learned that she worked as a librarian at a local university, though her dream job involved non-profit organizations around the world. She was almost twenty six years old and had been living in England for about six years. Tom told her a little bit about his career as an actor and about the audition he had on a few days for a movie called _Midnight in Paris_ and also how excited he was to be part of a big production set to start filming in a couple of weeks. The movie was _Thor_ and he was fascinated to see how interested she was in Norse mithology. Every now and then one of the boys would get involved in the conversation making the adults laugh, except for when they asked about their father and Tom had to distract them from the subject as he saw the expression on the woman's eyes. Soon, they were parked in front of a red bricked house which was the destination of the three.  
"Thank you so much for sharing this ride with us, Tom." she said sincerely smiling at him  
"It's no problem at all."  
"Let's go, boys. Go on and ring the bell. I'll be right out with you." she opened the door and they ran up the stairs ringing the house bell excitedly "Well, I guess I'll see you aroun then."  
"Here," he took a piece of paper out of his bag and wrote something in it "this is my cell number. Don't hesitate to call if you need something."  
"I would give you mine, but I don't have a cell. So I guess you can come around if you need my help"  
"Certainly."  
"Good bye."  
"Good bye." he watched her carry the bags out of the car and move towards the door being greeted by a red haired woman whose tears could be seen all the way from the cab  
"Where shall I take you, mister?"  
"Westminster, please."


	2. Chapter 2

"What do you mean I _can't_ get a restraining order?!" she practically screamed at the man behind the desk  
"I am so sorry, ma'am. I'm just trying to spare your time. There's not enough evidence to convince the judge to sign the paperwork. I could send you to him, but I know that without proper evidence he wouldn't be any help." his voice sounded truly apologetic. Brenda took a deep breath before saying anything.  
"Not enough evidence? Are you being serious right now? My face is clearly swollen, I have bruises all over my body and you are trying to tell me that this isn't _enough evidence_?" she pointed at her own body  
"Since the incident happened several days ago, the physical evidence isn't strong enough. There are also no reports from you or neighbors of any disturbance. No signs of prior domestic abuse. I really wish I could help you further." he shrugged  
"Am I supposed to simply wait around for him to come after me? I have two small children! I need to keep them safe, how the heck am I supposed to do that with my ex-husband trying to murder me?"  
"The best thing I can do for you, as of now, is keep one of my patrol cars around your block."  
"You can shove your patrol cars up your ass!" she turned towards the door, closing it with a loud bang. She didn't even realize that she was crying until she felt the hot tears touching her cheeks. Breathing in and out a couple of times, she headed towards the entrance of the police station where Grace awaited for her with both of her sons. The woman didn't even have to ask how things went with the chief of police, the look of desperation and panic on her friend's face said everything that needed to be said.  
"Can we buy some ice cream, mommy?" Harry asked as she came closer  
"How about I buy as much ice cream as you two can eat for the rest of your lives?" Grace tickled them and they walked out of the station

Back in the house, Brenda looked through the newspapers for the thousandth time hoping to find a job. She knew she couldn't just simply take any job. Douglas would be after her, and working in a bigger place wouldn't be any help. Grace's brother, Jeff, was a respected attorney who had agreed to help her out with the rough divorce that was ahead of her. She hoped that she would be able to obtain full custody of the children, she didn't trust the man whom she loved in the past around the boys. It was now friday, he should be back in Newcastle by now. That is _if_ he hadn't come back home when she failed to answer his numerous phone calls. Christmas was right around the corner, her first christmas practically alone, she hadn't even bought the boys' presents yet. Looking over at them, sitting on the floor playing with Grace's pug Tiger, you couldn't even tell that they had been through all of that mess. They acted as if though nothing had happened and barely even remembered of their father's absence. Randy would ask every now and then, but Harry never bothered to do so. She prayed that he didn't remember much of that tragic night. Just thinking about that kept her from sleeping, thinking about how far she'd let things go. The amount of damage done to their lives was irreparable, but she would make it up to them. She had to. As soon as the divorce was finalized, she would move back to the States and they would begin a new life together. Leave behind the nightmare. Brenda smiled when she thought about home, about her mother, the sweet, loving and rather clumsy woman who would do anything she could to see her daughter happy. She hadn't told her family the truth, it would break their hearts and might even trigger an unexpected reaction from her little brother Danny. He was too hot headed to know all the truth behind the separation. Thankfully, her mother hadn't asked many questions, the only thing she demanded was that the woman accept the money she had carefully kept on a savings account to pay for her daughter's years in college and that Brenda agree to let her come over and watch her grandsons as soon as they were properly settled in London. It was a large sum, but Brenda refused to use more than a fourth of it. She would use that part of the money to pay for a couple months of rent in a new apartment as soon as she could get a job.  
"It's for you." Grace handed her the phone. Had she been lost inside her own head for so long that she didn't even hear the phone ring? Who could it be?  
"Hello?"  
"Hi, is this Brenda McIntyre?" a woman said on the other side, her accent was British  
"Yes." she answered hesitantly, praying that it wouldn't be one of Douglas' friends. It couldn't be possible that he'd found her so quickly.  
"My name is Julie Hiddleston. We haven't met in person yet. You met my cousin a few days ago, he mentioned that you just moved into the city and might be needing a job."  
"Is your cousin..Tom?" she responded after digging through her memory for a little while in order to remember his name  
"Yes, that's him. He also told me that he didn't know your phone number. So I looked up the address online and found it. I hope you don't think I'm some sort of stalker." she chuckled. Well, in all honesty, she did sound like a stalker.  
"Oh, no. Not at all. What kind of job is it that you're offering?"  
"Well, you see, I have recently opened a publishing firm and have had absolutely no luck with my secretaries. So I thought maybe you would want to give it a try?"  
"I have never worked as a secretary before. The only experience I have is as a librarian."  
"Oh, you don't need any experience, Tom said marvelous things about you and it sounds like you'd be the perfect fit for the job. I understand if you want to decline the offer, though." her voice sounded a little sad as she said the last sentence  
"No!" that came out louder than what Brenda had expected "I mean, I am totally okay with trying. I just don't want to disappoint you."  
"You won't Brenda, I am sure that you won't."  
"Just one more thing,"  
"Sure, go ahead."  
"Are there any day cares around the area of your firm? I have two small boys and I can't afford a nanny."  
"Oh, yes, he told me about that too. Lucky for you, there's one just two floors below mine. Most of the people who work on this building leave their children there."  
"Woah, that's great. Really great."  
"So, you agree to come work with me?"  
"Yes, of course!" she wanted to cry out of excitement "When do I start?" Well, do you mind starting on the 28th?"  
"Not at all."  
"Great, I'll give you the address."  
Grace and Brenda jumped up and down because of the happy news. They spent the next few days doing some Christmas shopping and putting up the tree. As usual, the boys were eager to help and did not rest until all of the ornaments they bought were carefully hung on the tree. They cooked some traditional American and British dishes, Jeff, his girlfriend Debrah and Grace's boyfriend Bill came over and they spent the night talking, laughing and even dancing. It was one of the most pleasant Christmas Brenda had had in a really long time. Randy was the first one to fall asleep, his tiny body was curled up into a ball in the corner of one of the sofas. By the time the clock chimed three in the morning, all of the guests had left and the women cleaned up the kitchen quickly before going to their bedrooms. A pair of blue eyes watched and followed every movement Brenda made and she only now realized how late it was for an almost-two-year-old to be awake.  
"Hey mister, what are you still doing up?" he shrugged "Waiting for mommy, aren't you? Let's get you into bed." she picked him up and they walked towards the single guest bedroom in the house. On the center of the bed, her oldest son snored lightly in a deep sleep. She changed into her pajamas, brushing her teeth and watching Harry _try_ to do the same. Laying him down beside his brother, she squeezed into the edge of the bed, kissing the top of their heads before turning off the lights and turning on the night light beside the bed.  
She dreamed of a vast and bright green field. It felt so good to run through the field with no worries, feel the warm summer breeze on her face and the faint smell of flowers that seemed to surround her. It was one of the greatest feelings in the world, freedom and peace. Birds chirped distantly adding to the almost flawless landscape. Their chirping was interrupted by low sobs. Where were they coming from? The sobs, and occasional sniffles, seemed to come from every direction, she didn't know where to run or how to help the person who cried. She felt a sharp kick on her ribs and her eyes fluttered open. It was still dark. Beside her, Harry's body shaked as he cried. He was probably having one of those nasty nightmares.  
"Harry, baby, wake up." she shook him gently. It took a few tries before his round eyes opened and he took in his surroundings. "Nightmare?" he nodded "Do you want to tell me what happened? If you say it out loud, it won't become real."  
"The bad man, mommy," he touched one of her cheeks "he had a big knife and he wanted to hurt you. I didn't want him to hurt you, mommy." she felt a pang in her heart as he spoke  
"Don't worry, no one is going to hurt any of us okay? Now let's get you back to sleep." he hugged her, afraid to let go and a few minutes later was fast asleep again. Brenda cried herself to sleep once more.

The big day had finally come. Checking herself in the big mirror on the bathroom wall, Brenda made sure that there were no wrinkles on her clothes. She wore a pencil skirt and a dress shirt, accompanied by pumps that had a lower heel. Her hair was up in a fancy ponytail that only Grace would have managed to do, she wore her new pair of glasses, her contacts had stayed in Newcastle, and a blazer finished off the look. There was little makeup for she didn't know the firm's policies. Hanging her purse on one of her shoulders, she checked to make sure the boys' clothes were also wrinkle free and walked towards the subway station. It took a while to get too Belgravia, but it would all be worth it in the end. The building in which she was supposed to work from now on was pretty fancy. The lobby's floor was made of well polished marble and everyone seemed to be rather important around there. She felt a little dressed down, but kept her chin up at all times. The clerk at the front desk showed her to the elevators and up they went. Her heart ached a little when she left her sons on the day care. She had repeatedly told the woman responsible for the children that no one besides her or Grace Taylor were to be allowed to take the boys anywhere. Harry cried a little, but she turned away hesitantly and went into the elevator once again. The floor that housed the publishing firm, which was oddly called Pixies Publishers, was extremely well decorated. Everything in it, from the trash bins to the paintings on the walls seemed rather expensive for a recently opened business. Not that it was any of Brenda's concern. As she walked toward the front desk, a pair of torquoise eyes met her brown ones. A tall, slender woman stood near one of the pillars. Her short blonde hair barely touched her chin, her clothes were as elegant as those one might find on fashion magazines and she smiled lightly as she extended one of her hands to the shorter woman in front of her.  
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Brenda. I'm Julie. Please call me Julie, it's so obnoxiously weird when people call me Ms. Hiddleston or something like that. How'd you like the building? Did you like the day care? I haven't heard many complaints about it, so I'm assuming everyone there is pretty nice. Or maybe people were just faking it and complaining behind my back." she spoke a little too fast and all that the other woman could do was stare at her trying to comprehend everything she said "Oh, Lord, I'm talking way too fast aren't I?"  
"Don't worry." they laughed  
"I'm not really good with the whole talking thing. I either talk way too fast or don't say anything that makes any sense. I hope you will forgive me."  
"That's perfectly fine with me."  
"Let me show you around the office, there aren't many of us here yet, but hopefully we'll have a bigger team as time goes by."  
There were only five other employees Justin, Lance, Penelope, Andrew and Regan, who were all really friendly and excited to have a new member on their crew. Her job there was pretty simple, answer the phone, schedule appointments, organize files and send out emails. Couldn't be so bad, right? The day went by faster than she thought it would. Soon, it was almost lunchtime and she looked forward to introducing her sons to the crew. Penelope's daughter was in the day care as well, it would be nice for the children to become friends. Ten minutes before lunch the phone rang once again.  
"Pixies Publishers, Brenda McIntyre speaking. How can I help you?"  
"Hello, Brenda." the deep voice startled her, and before she knew it her heart was beating faster than the recommended


End file.
